Pitchers and catchers! Popes, ranked! But how's this for synergy? The late Pope John Paul II, on a visit to California in 1987, stepping inside a batting cage to take a few hacks while a dude and a couple of pontificate minimi stand around talking softball. The Vatican's sports broadcasting division released this video a few years ago, but it only now has come to our attention. Check out His Holiness digging into the batter's box, in his usual casual wear of flowing white vestments: He was a lefty. He had his own red and white batting gloves. And he wasn't so bad.